Friday, September 20, 2013

Kammermusikkreis Scheck-Wenzinger

The Swiss cellist and viola da gamba player August Wenzinger (1905-1996), a student of Feuermann, was one of the 20th century pioneers of historically-informed performances of Baroque music, both through his performances on the gamba and his participation in various orchestras, principally that of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the Capella Coloniensis. He gained fame in the 1950s through directing these groups. But he was active long before this in exploring Baroque music; he was one of the gamba players on the Busch Chamber Players' recording of the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in 1935, and in 1930, with a like-minded colleague, the flutist Gustav Scheck (1901-1984), he co-founded a Baroque ensemble, Kammermusikkreis Scheck-Wenzinger. This group made a handful of recordings in the late 1930s for Electrola, including this one featuring Scheck (his first name Italianized on this pressing as "Gustavo"!) as a soloist in a flute concerto attributed to Pergolesi - although most scholars seem fairly certain that it isn't actually his:

There are a couple of interesting aspects about this recording. One is that, when played at 78-rpm, the instruments appear to be tuned at A = 415 Hz, the current standard for what is called "low pitch" used by period-instrument ensembles! Surely this is one of the earliest examples of this on a recording (outside, perhaps, of the various Dolmetsch family recordings). The other is the sound of Scheck's flute: the tone is much closer to a recorder than to a modern metal flute, and I'm wondering whether he actually used an early flute for this recording. He was known for his interest in the Baroque flute; Hans-Martin Linde, also a specialist in this field, is Scheck's most famous student.

Thanks, Bryan.Just wanted to let you know that I am no longer encountering the "No free slots available" problem with FileFactory. They seem to have fixed whatever was causing the problem, so I can now download from them.

What a coincidence - just yesterday, I was doing some discography and looking at this set in WERM, thinking how much I'd like to hear it! And here it is - thank you so much. Isn't that Bach fantastic? Could easily provide programmers with an alternative to the b minor Suite. I think they were using old instruments - at least, Scheck surely was. I have another recording they made around this time, of movements from a beautiful suite by Erlebach (EH 1221). I must get a new transfer made and post it. One small thing - I believe the Italian issue numbers are not S10404 & S10405 but S10494 & S10495 (that charming typography makes the 9 look very like a 0). This was also issued in Switzerland but, strangely, I can find a number only for the first disc - FKX 238. Once again, many, many thanks, you've made my day! (The rest of it is going to be taken up with some very tedious hoovering and tidying...) Best wishes, Nick

Nick, you're absolutely right about that "9" - I'm just getting blind as a bat in my old age, that's all! Glad you enjoyed it, and I look forward to hearing the Erlebach some day. My mother - herself a Baroque specialist and viola da gamba player - agrees with us that Scheck is playing a Baroque flute. Wonder if Hinnenthal transcribed the whole lute suite, or just this movement? Curiously the Michael Gray discographies thought it WAS the Sarabande from the B minor, even though WERM (as usual) had it correct!

I suppose we shouldn't complain, but this eyesight thing is a real drag! I keep having to get a new prescription for glasses every year... I will try to transfer the Erlebach soon but I'm a bit all over the place with tidying, not to mention I haven't got my 78rpm system set up. Never seen the name Hinnenthal before this - must investigate! All the best, Nick

About Me

I have been collecting 78-rpm records since childhood. In 2007, I began a hobby of transferring some of these to digital files, and in 2010 I established this blog as a forum for sharing these with a wider audience.

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All audio files posted on this blog can be downloaded by clicking on the word "Link" at the appropriate place. The link will take you to a file hosting service, where you will be given a download link to a ZIP file. When your computer asks you if you would rather open or save this file, choose "save" and save it to your computer, then use an unZIPping program to extract the audio and other files.